CALL TO ACTION: WESTLAKE IN PALM BEACH COUNTY PROPOSES MOVING TO 2500-FOOT RESIDENCY RESTRICTION | Florida Action Committee (2024)

Jul 12, 2024 | 1 comment

What you need to know:

• Westlake in Palm Beach County will be considering expanding their residency restriction to 2500 feet for Persons Forced To Register.
• This proposed ordinance will include any public or private school, public library, day care center, park, playground, community center, day camp, or any other place where children regularly congregate.
• This proposed ordinance contains the false verbiage from Florida Statute 775.21: “Repeat sexual offenders, sexual offenders who use physical violence and sexual offenders who prey on children are sexual predators who present an extreme threat to the public safety. Sexual offenders/sexual predators are extremely likely to use physical violence and to repeat their offenses, and most sexual offenders/sexual predators commit many offenses, have many more victims than are ever reported, and are prosecuted for only a fraction of their crimes. This makes the cost of sexual offender/sexual predator victimization to society at large, while incalculable, clearly exorbitant.”
• The final vote for the Westlake City Council’s proposed ordinance will be Tuesday, July 16, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. Rather than wait for their regular city council meeting in August, the council has called a special meeting this coming Tuesday for the second reading of ordinance 2024-02 — Establishing Residency Prohibitions and Exceptions for Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators. This ordinance is the only item on the agenda for the meeting.

Please do the following:

• Email or call the Westlake City Council members.
• State that you oppose the proposed ordinance that would expand the town’s residency restriction for people forced to register as a sex offender or predator from the state’s 1,000 feet to 2,500 feet.
• If you do not live in Palm Beach County, your concern is that you feel uncomfortable traveling to a county where the town government would try to banish a subset of people when no sex crimes are being committed there.
• Use some of the following talking points to let the council members know why you oppose the ordinance, or you can use your own talking points.
• If you call and voicemail picks up, leave a message. All messages are supposed to be counted.
• Always be cordial in your communications with the council members as they are more likely to listen to us.

Talking Points:

• Under Florida law, the “sex offender” residency restriction is 1,000 feet from schools, playgrounds, parks, and child care centers.
• In 2014, a Palm Beach County Jail inmate filed a lawsuit against Palm Beach County because of the 2,500-foot residency restriction the county had at the time. The county attorney warned the county that they would most likely lose the lawsuit, and the best thing the county could do was roll their residency restriction back to the state’s 1,000 feet. Then if there was a lawsuit filed, the state would be the ones to defend against such a lawsuit. Not only did the county roll back their residency restriction to the state’s 1,000 feet, but the county attorney’s office also recommended that municipalities within Palm Beach County do the same thing.
• A similar situation occurred a couple of years ago in Gainesville, Florida. Because of the 2,500-foot residency restriction in Gainesville, a man filed a lawsuit against the city because he wanted to live in the same house that his wife lived in. The house was within the 2,500 feet of one of the “forbidden” places. The attorney for the city of Gainesville warned the city commissioners that defending against such a lawsuit could be costly for the city. He recommended rolling the restriction back to the state’s 1,000 feet, again so that the state would then be the one having to defend against such lawsuits. The Gainesville commissioners rolled back their residency restrictions to 1,000 feet.
• Newberry, Florida, (also located in Alachua County with Gainesville) wanted to expand their residency restriction to 2,500 feet. When their town attorney heard the recommendation by the Gainesville attorney, he also recommended that Newberry stay within the state’s 1,000-foot restriction. Same reason: the state would have to pay for the cost of defending lawsuits filed against the residency restrictions in Newberry. The Newberry commissioners dropped their proposal to extend the state’s 1,000-foot residency restriction to 2,500 feet.
• Public libraries are included in the Westlake ordinance. Courts have ruled that people on the “sex offender” registry cannot be banned from libraries as a library is often their only source of information, and every person has the right to obtain information.

• “Top 10 Legal Concerns from Florida Public Librarians,” October 19, 2016, see slide #6, https://files.floridados.gov/media/697328/legalconcerns1.pdf
• Reuters, “U.S. appeals court says sex offender have right to libraries,” January 20, 2012, by Keith Coffman, https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/us-appeals-court-says-sex-offenders-have-right-to-libraries-idUSTRE80K05T/
• Library Journal, “Appeals Court Finds Library Sex Offender Ban Unconstitutional,” February 17, 2012, by Michelle Lee, https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/appeals-court-finds-library-sex-offender-ban-unconstitutional

• This proposed ordinance is based on false information: ”Sexual offenders/sexual predators are extremely likely to use physical violence and to repeat their offenses, and most sexual offenders/sexual predators commit many offenses, have many more victims than are ever reported, and are prosecuted for only a fraction of their crimes.” All research shows that most people on the “sex offender” registry never commit another sex offense after serving out their sentence. What research does the Westlake Council have to show otherwise?
• With plans for more locations frequented by children to be added in Westlake, it would come close to complete banishment for registrants in the town. Such banishments are not going to stand up in court.
• Nothing has happened to prompt such a banishment. Why now is Westlake proposing this ordinance? Because they can? Because they have two Persons Forced To Register, who are NOT continuing to commit sex crimes? Why aren’t they panicking over the people living in Westlake who will be committing a sex crime in the future but are not on law enforcement’s radar yet?
• Research shows that approximately 90% or more of FUTURE sex crimes are committed by people NOT on the registry. Who in Westlake will be watching these people who will be committing the FUTURE sex crimes there?
• Additionally, at least 93% of minors know their perpetrator, debunking the stranger-danger myth. What is Westlake doing to prevent the FUTURE sex crimes in its town, which will be mainly by family members, school staff, church staff, neighbors, etc.—not people on the “sex offender” registry?

Westlake contact information for local officials:

Mayor JohnPaul O’Connor: [emailprotected]; 561-273-5883

Vice Mayor Greg Langowski: [emailprotected]; 561-507-7605

Councilman Gary Werner: [emailprotected]; 561-273-5607

Councilman Julian Martinez: [emailprotected]; 561-506-9565

Councilwoman Charlotte Leonard: [emailprotected]; 561-507-7233